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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest production could be exempt from the delay in lockdown easing, Boris Johnson hinted in his Downing Street briefing announcing the four-week postponement of the relaxation of all rules.
Last week, Lord Lloyd-Webber said he was determined to open his theatres on 21 June regardless of whether rules are relaxed, and was prepared to be arrested if authorities try to intervene.
In Chile health authorities have said they will extend Covid emergency measures until the end of September, which will allow its government to impose further restrictions.
The announcement comes as cases have soared to some of the highest levels since the pandemic began, despite 61% getting at least one dose and 48% being fully vaccinated – according to Reuters. It is now vaccinating teenagers and has already introduced vaccine passports.
Its capital was locked down last week, to ease the pressure on hospitals, most of which are at or near capacity.
Health undersecretary Paula Daza told reporters: “The health alert that lasts until 30 June will be extended for three months until 30 September.”
New rules are set to come into place in Disney theme parks in the US from Tuesday, where fully vaccinated people will no longer have to wear face masks, Reuters reports.
The policy applies to guests in resorts in Florida and California.
Disney won’t ask for proof of vaccination, the company said in a blog post. But it expects people who are not fully vaccinated to continue wearing masks inside, apart from when eating.
Brazil reports 827 more deaths
Another 39,846 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in Brazil in the last 24 hours, with a further 827 deaths.
The South American country has now recorded 17,452,612 cases since the pandemic began, and the death toll has risen to 488,228 according to government data.
The outbreak is the third worst in the world, behind the US and India.
Hi, I’m Harry Taylor and I’ll be bringing you Covid-19 news from around the world for the next few hours.
The UK prime minister Boris Johnson has announced a four-week delay to the country’s roadmap to relax restrictions amid rising cases driven by the Delta variant, first identified in India.
If you’ve got any tips or stories to share, you can get in touch by email or Twitter, where my DMs are open.
Summary
I’m signing off for now: here are the latest key developments around the world. There will be more on the UK blog as reaction comes in to Boris Johnson’s announcement.
- Boris Johnson announced a four-week delay to the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England. He said the extra delay could prevent thousands of deaths by allowing more vaccinations. No 10 said data indicated two doses of a vaccine were needed for protection against the Delta variant causing a rise in cases.
- The main impacts of that delay in England will be pubs and hospitality remain restricted to table service and with social distancing measures in place, people should still work from home where possible, theatres and entertainment venues will have their capacity held at 50% and nightclubs will have to remain closed. The suggestion, however, is that there will be some lifting of the 30-person cap on attendees at weddings in England.
- The Delta variant has been detected in 74 countries and is continuing to spread, prompting fears it will become the most dominant strain globally. There is also concern that while data is being shared, countries with weaker monitoring systems may not have detected the strain’s presence.
- Indonesia said it fears rising cases will not peak until July, despite hospitals in the capital Jakarta and other parts of Java already coming close to full capacity. The country is trying to increase hospital capacity and turn hotels into isolation centres.
- Russia reported 13,721 new coronavirus cases, including 6,590 in the capital, Moscow. Authorities in St Petersburg, which is hosting a series of Euro 2020 matches, said on Monday they were tightening anti-coronavirus restrictions in an effort to curb a new spike in infections. Food courts and children’s play areas in shopping malls in Russia’s second city will be closed, and no food will be sold at Euro 2020 fan zones.
- South Africa has had to bin 2 million Johnson and Johnson doses because of a potential contamination of ingredients traced back to the US. It is another setback for the country’s vaccination campaign with the doses planned for health workers and over-60s.
- A WHO official said Africa will get priority treatment for the 870 million vaccine doses pledged by the G7 because it has emerged as one of “the most vulnerable, under-served (areas)”.
- The two main hospitals in Afghanistan dealing with Covid-19 have had to turn away patients, saying they have no more beds and are short on oxygen and medical supplies.
- Thailand’s recently launched coronavirus vaccination campaign was hit by confusion after at least 20 hospitals in Bangkok postponed Covid-19 inoculation appointments set for this week, citing delays in vaccine deliveries. A series of coronavirus outbreaks in Thai factories is also raising concerns that the export sector could be hit hard, threatening to further undermine an economy as it struggles to recover from the pandemic’s crippling blow to the crucial tourism industry.
- Many Indian states eased coronavirus restrictions today. That includes the capital, Delhi, where authorities allowed all shops and malls to open, as the number of new infections dropped to the lowest in more than two months. Tourist sites like the Taj Mahal and Red Fort are also set to begin allowing visitors back in from this week.
- Experts have warned the US risks seeing a sharp rise in cases caused by the Delta variant, especially in southern states where vaccination rates are lower than the national average. Currently 10% of Covid-19 infections in the US can be attributed to the Delta variant, but that proportion is doubling every two weeks.
- Coronavirus is on the verge of having killed a devastating 600,000 people in the US, with the case total standing at 599,769, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The US toll remains the highest in the world.
- Germany could soon begin easing rules on mask-wearing as the country enjoys a sharp drop in Covid-19 infections, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
- Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pledged no return to Covid restrictions despite growing infections over the past month.
- Lebanon administered more than 40,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in a weekend drive to contain the pandemic.
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Colombian president Ivan Duque received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday, as he urged people to continue keeping themselves safe against Covid-19 amid a record number of daily deaths.
- The former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 immunisation programme has been arrested and faces charges of high treason for colluding with opponents of the military authorities, state media reported. The arrest of Htar Htar Lin and other doctors, following February’s coup, was condemned by the US-based Physicians for Human Rights.
Updated
Though infections are declining in most countries, experts have warned that there is still reason for caution with the potential for new strains to send cases up again.
Jon Henley has looked at how key countries are faring with Covid-19, from Argentina’s attempts to keep out the Delta variant after its own recent surge to India’s slow vaccination campaign as deaths gradually climb again. Infections have fallen in France and Germany while vaccinations have picked up, while the US is now struggling more to convince the rest of its population to take up the vaccines.
Boris Johnson has announced a four-week delay to the final lockdown easing and a speeding up of second vaccine doses, saying the extra time could prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths.
No 10 said the data was now clear that two doses of the vaccine were needed to combat the new Delta variant and said it was right to allow more time to give millions more people second doses. Johnson slashed the interval between the first and second jabs from 12 weeks to eight for the over-40s, a step which has already been taken for older adults.
Hospitalisations could hit the peak of the first wave if step 4 of the roadmap proceeds, according to modelling by the government’s SPI-M committee. The data presented to ministers suggested that because vaccine effectiveness increases significantly after two doses, thousands of deaths could be prevented by delay.
“At some stage we are going to have to live with this virus, as we do with flu, but when we have effective vaccines, and a variant that needs two doses for maximum protection, it is right to allow more time to save lives,” a Downing St spokesman said.
Updated
The challenges of vaccinating developing countries are not limited to delivering them vials but also strengthening the systems to handle and administer vaccines. Humanitarians have been making this point over recent days, telling the G7 that donating excess vaccines is not enough.
The International Rescue Committee said on Monday that governments also need helping vaccination campaigns, reassuring the population and investment into technology and storage.
“Without these key components, we will continue to see doses expire, be returned/reallocated, go back into storage, and be mistrusted,” the IRC said in a statement.
Updated
Africa will get priority treatment for the Group of Seven’s pledged 870 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, a senior World Health Organization adviser said on Monday.
“You will see that Africa is one of the most vulnerable, under-served (areas), so the priority would be for doses to go... to the African continent writ large. Those numbers will be sorted out the coming weeks,” Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO adviser and coordinator of the ACT (Access to Covid-19 Tools) Accelerator, told an online news briefing from Geneva.
Italy reported 36 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday against 26 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 907 from 1,390.
Italy has registered 127,038 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.25 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid – not including those in intensive care – stood at 3,465 on Monday, down from 3,542 a day earlier.
There were 11 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 20 on Sunday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 536 from a previous 565.
Some 79,524 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 134,136, the health ministry said.
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte extended partial coronavirus curbs in the capital and nearby provinces but placed more areas under tighter quarantine measures because of rising infections and high hospital occupancy.
Covid-19 cases in the capital region, home to at least 13 million people, have eased from their peak in April, but provinces are battling surges, showing that the pandemic is far from over in the Southeast Asian nation.
In a weekly national address, Duterte told the public to get inoculated and comply with health regulations. “If you do not get vaccinated, you will really die.”
The government imposed tighter measures in nine cities and 12 provinces, including those in central and southern Philippines, that limit the operating capacity of businesses and shut down non-essential establishments.
South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout has been hit by further delays as it will have to discard at least 2m Johnson & Johnson vaccines produced in the country.
The vaccines were found by the US Food and Drug Administration to be unsuitable for use due to possible contamination of their ingredients at a Baltimore plant. South Africa was expecting to use them to inoculate its health care workers and people aged 60 years and older.
This is the latest setback to South Africa’s vaccine rollout which has so far given shots to just over 1% of its 60m people.
Early this year the country rejected about 1m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine it received from the Serum Institute of India after a small, preliminary study found that the vaccine offered minimal protection against mild to moderate cases of the Covid-19 variant that is dominant in South Africa. Those vaccines were sold to the African Union for distribution to other African countries.
Society’s most creative and entrepreneurial people are likely to have suffered a greater hit to their mental health than the rest of the UK population during Covid lockdown, according to a study of more than 5,000 people that suggested extroverts had struggled more.
Individuals with open and extrovert personalities experienced higher deterioration in their mental health than other personality types, according to research by University of Glasgow academics based on the biggest running study of its kind. Open personalities – a widely used definition of people who tend to be curious and keen to try new things – were linked with a particularly marked increase in mental health problems in January 2021. Overall, a quarter of people who had moderately open personalities showed at least one additional symptom of mental deterioration.
By contrast, people whose personalities were judged to be dominated by “agreeableness” experienced less negative mental health consequences, according to analysis of the UK household longitudinal study – known as Understanding Society. Agreeableness is a personality category widely used by psychologists and indicates a desire for social stability, altruism and consideration of others’ needs and feelings.
Updated
The Delta variant of Covid-19, first identified in India, has been detected in 74 countries and continues to spread rapidly amid fears that it is poised to become the dominant strain worldwide.
With outbreaks of the main Delta strain and several of its sub-lineages confirmed in China, the US, Africa, Scandinavia and the Pacific, concern increasingly is focusing on how it appears to be more transmissible as well as causing more serious illness.
In the US, according to the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb, cases of the Delta variant are doubling roughly every two weeks and account for 10% of all new cases, while in the UK it accounts for more than 90% of new cases.
While health authorities around the world are collecting and sharing data on the spread of the new variant, the fear is that in countries in the developing world with less robust monitoring systems, the Delta variant may already have spread much further than has been reported.
Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University’s school of public health in the US, last week called the Delta variant “the most contagious variant we’ve seen so far”.
Updated
Norway expects to receive 900,000 fewer Pfizer vaccines between July and September than previously expected, Health Minister Bent Hoeie said on Monday.
Reuters report that it will cause a week’s delay for adults waiting for a first dose and two weeks for a second dose.
Pfizer said in an email to Reuters it was meeting all contractual obligations.
Norway has so far vaccinated 45.7% of its adult population with one dose of the two-dose vaccines, while 31.5% are fully vaccinated, government data shows.
India’s Taj Mahal will reopen for tourists this week, two months after it was closed amid a devastating wave of Covid-19 cases.
As the number of cases falls, parts of India are lifting some restrictions though visitors to the Taj Mahal will still have to follow rules like not touching the marble surfaces and stepping on a surface that will sanitise shoes. Visitors will only be able to buy tickets online.
The government said other historical sites protected by the Archeological Survey of India, including Delhi’s Red Fort and Buddhist monument Ajanta Caves, will re-open on from 16 June.
The AP reports that Zambia’s first president and leader of the campaign for independence from British rule Kenneth Kaunda, 97, has been admitted to hospital amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
He was democratically elected in 1964 and then led the country under a one-party state until 1991, when he was defeated in elections.
Kaunda asked for “all Zambians and the international community to pray for him as the medical team is doing everything possible to ensure that he recovers”, according to the statement issued by Kaunda’s administrative assistant Rodrick Ngolo.
The short statement did not specify the cause of Kaunda’s illness, but Zambia is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases and the country’s founding president was admitted to Maina Soko Medical Center, a treatment center for the disease in the capital, Lusaka.
Zambia’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen dramatically over the past two weeks from 1.44 new cases per 100,000 people on May 30 to 8.91 new cases per 100,000 people on June 13.
Zambia, with a population of about 18 million people, has a cumulative total of nearly 108,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 1,348 deaths, according to figures released Monday by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Updated
Fully vaccinated Germans have been urged not to rush out to pharmacies to obtain a digital vaccination pass, made available in thousands of stores on Monday.
The Digitale Impfpass or digital vaccination pass, is the official document to be used as part of the the European Union vaccine certificate scheme to facilitate travel across the bloc, which the European parliament agreed last month.
The Association of Pharmacists issued an appeal to people to be patient, admitting the system was new and untried.
“We ask citizens not to storm the chemists on Monday morning,” the association said in a statement.
A website, Mein-Apothekenmanager.de (my pharmacy manager), which was advertised across German media as the best place to locate a chemist offering the service, crashed in the morning, unable to cope with demand.
However, by about 11am, a spokesman for the Association of Pharmacists said 140,000 certificates had been issued by the approximately 13,000 chemists – more than two-thirds of those across the country – involved.
Updated
Limited hospital capacity is becoming a theme and it is also a problem in Afghanistan, where the two main hospitals dealing with Covid-19 have had to shut.
“Both Afghan Japan and Ali Jinnah hospitals had to close their doors because they had no more beds or resources,” a health official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
They also had shortages of oxygen and medical supplies.
Eid Wali, the head of Ali Jinnah hospital, said they had only 50 beds for Covid-19 patients.
Save the Children estimated last week that cases have risen 740% since 1 May but the country has run out of vaccine supplies.
Its Afghanistan office’s head of advocacy, Athena Rayburn, said: “While many wealthy countries are reaching 50-60% full vaccination rates for adults, countries like Afghanistan have once again been left behind – and it is children who are paying the price.
“Afghanistan has now exhausted its existing vaccine stock, which numbered less than one million doses. Less than one per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated.“
Updated
With cases almost tripling in the past month and vaccination rates still low, concern in Oman as hospitals have begun exceeding capacity, the AP reports.
Authorities on Monday recorded 1,800 infections and 19 deaths from the virus. They have identified variants first found in India, Britain and South Africa.
The influx of severe infections has forced overwhelmed hospitals nationwide to turn away patients, local media reported. The main Covid-19 field hospital in Muscat, the capital, surpassed 90% occupancy and its intensive care beds are now completely full, said the state-run Omani News Agency. Many smaller hospitals across the country also said they were operating beyond capacity.
Dr. Nabil bin Muhammed al-Lawait, the Muscat field hospital director, told state-run media that officials were scrambling to increase hospital capacity and staff to handle the spike in critically ill patients.
“People are waiting to receive beds,” he said from the converted hospital, where expat doctors rushed between patients on respirators and hooked up to a tangle of breathing tubes. “There is great pressure on hospital beds … and a shortage of medical staff.”
Severe and critical cases of Covid-19 are hitting record highs, he added, and the majority of new patients are struggling to breathe, just days after becoming infected. Severe cases, typically when a patient’s oxygen level plummets, have risen to nearly 400 daily, from less than 50 in February.
Updated
Indonesia fears peak in July as hospitals fill up
With hospitals in the capital Jakarta already at 75% capacity, Indonesia fears its rise in Covid-19 cases will reach into July, Reuters reports.
The delta variant has been spreading and become “more dominant” in Jakarta and other parts of Java.
“The capital is in need of extra attention,” Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan said in a statement posted on Facebook. “If the condition gets out of control, we will enter an acute phase.”
The government plans to increase hospital capacity by 40% and will convert hotels into isolation centres.
Indonesia recorded 10,000 cases on Sunday, the highest number since February.
Updated
Italy would reimpose a quarantine on travellers arriving from the UK if the Delta variant continues to rise there, prime minister Mario Draghi said.
Draghi made his remarks during a press conference at the end of the G7 in Cornwall on Sunday.
UK travellers can travel to Italy quarantine-free but must provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test taken 48 hours prior to departure regardless of whether they’ve been fully vaccinated.
“If the contagion [of the Delta variant] continues to rise in the UK, then we would need to reimpose the quarantine, but we’re not there yet,” Draghi said.
Covid-19 infections, deaths and hospitalisations have decreased significantly in Italy as the vaccine programme accelerated. On Sunday, the country registered 1,723 new infections and 26 more deaths, bring the total deaths since the start of the pandemic to 127,002 – the highest in Europe after the UK.
Two-thirds of the country, including Lombardy, the hardest hit region, and Lazio, the region surrounding Rome, are in the “white zone” category, meaning most restrictions have been lifted apart from the obligation to wear face masks and maintain physical distance. The nightly curfew has also been lifted in white zone regions.
Updated
The G7 countries have committed to investing $80bn into Africa’s private sector, including to support economies damaged by the pandemic.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the UK’s spending will focus on renewable power, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture and technology.
“This investment will create jobs, boost economic growth, help tackle climate change and fight poverty. It comes at a crucial time as the continent rebuilds its economies, severely impacted by Covid-19,” said the minister for Africa James Duddridge.
The UK, however, has faced criticism from aid groups, and opposition from Conservative MPs, for plans to slash aid spending in crucial areas such as water and sanitation, nutrition and diseases.
Updated
Hello, Kaamil Ahmed here to pick up the live blog.
The protein-based Novavax vaccine has reported more than 90% efficacy in late-stage trials, Reuters reports.
Trialled with 30,000 volunters in the US and Mexico, American company Novavax said it had detected Covid-19 variants first identified in Brazil, South Africa and India though the most common was the British strain.
The vaccine is based on a conventional approach using a purified pieces of the virus to prompt an immune response.
The company aim to produce 100m doses per month by the third quarter of 2021.
Updated
Today so far…
- Russia reported 13,721 new coronavirus cases, including 6,590 in the capital, Moscow. Authorities in St Petersburg, which is hosting a series of Euro 2020 matches, said on Monday they were tightening anti-coronavirus restrictions in an effort to curb a new spike in infections. Food courts and children’s play areas in shopping malls in Russia’s second city will be closed, and no food will be sold at Euro 2020 fan zones.
- Thailand’s recently launched coronavirus vaccination campaign was hit by confusion after at least 20 hospitals in Bangkok postponed Covid-19 inoculation appointments set for this week, citing delays in vaccine deliveries. A series of coronavirus outbreaks in Thai factories is also raising concerns that the export sector could be hit hard, threatening to further undermine an economy as it struggles to recover from the pandemic’s crippling blow to the crucial tourism industry.
- Many Indian states eased coronavirus restrictions today. That includes the capital, Delhi, where authorities allowed all shops and malls to open, as the number of new infections dropped to the lowest in more than two months.
- The main topic dominating the conversation in England is that at 6pm tonight, the prime minister is expected to announce a four-week delay to the planned reopening of the economy over concerns of the spread of the Delta variant. The four weeks, which would mean restrictions coming to an end on 19 July instead, is to allow more time to get through vaccinations. Andrew Sparrow is liveblogging those developments for us here.
- The main impacts of that delay in England will be pubs and hospitality remain restricted to table service and with social distancing measures in place, people should still work from home where possible, theatres and entertainment venues will have their capacity held at 50% and nightclubs will have to remain closed. The suggestion, however, is that there will be some lifting of the 30-person cap on attendees at weddings in England.
- Experts have warned the US risks seeing a sharp rise in cases caused by the Delta variant, especially in southern states where vaccination rates are lower than the national average. Currently 10% of Covid-19 infections in the US can be attributed to the Delta variant, but that proportion is doubling every two weeks.
- Coronavirus is on the verge of having killed a devastating 600,000 people in the US, with the case total standing at 599,769, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The US toll remains the highest in the world.
- Germany could soon begin easing rules on mask-wearing as the country enjoys a sharp drop in Covid-19 infections, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
- Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pledged no return to Covid restrictions despite growing infections over the past month.
- Lebanon administered more than 40,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in a weekend drive to contain the pandemic.
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Colombian president Ivan Duque received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday, as he urged people to continue keeping themselves safe against Covid-19 amid a record number of daily deaths.
- The former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 immunisation programme has been arrested and faces charges of high treason for colluding with opponents of the military authorities, state media reported. The arrest of Htar Htar Lin and other doctors, following February’s coup, was condemned by the US-based Physicians for Human Rights.
That’s it from me today, Kaamil Ahmed will be here shortly to continue the live blog. I will see you tomorrow.
Updated
Ted Baker made a loss of more than £100m in the first pandemic year as revenues at the fashion retailer plunged.
Ted Baker went into the pandemic highly dependent on struggling physical stores, including its own shops and concessions operated in department stores. Lockdowns around the world severely hit those revenues, and government furlough support worth £8.5m was not enough to make up the difference.
The retailer added that the lockdown hit continued beyond the end of January amid further lockdowns in the UK and Europe. Sales in the 12 weeks to 24 April were down by 20%.
The shutdown of shops added to troubles including a big accounting error and the temporary departure of its founder, Ray Kelvin, following controversy over “forced hugs” for employees.
Read more here: Ted Baker loses more than £100m as Covid lockdowns dent sales
Madeline Holcombe has been covering Covid in the US for CNN, and this morning she reports on worries that Covid variants could cause outbreaks in states with lower vaccination rates. She writes:
Currently 10% of Covid-19 infections in the US can be attributed to the Delta variant, but that proportion is doubling every two weeks, said Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration.
That may not mean a sharp uptick in infections across the country, which has administered more than 309 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, but specific regions are at risk, he said.
“I think in parts of the country where you have less vaccination – particularly in parts of the South, where you have some cities where vaccination rates are low – there’s a risk that you could see outbreaks with this new variant,” Gottlieb said.
Nationally, 64.4% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, but some states are seeing significantly lower rates. Less than half of adults living in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For states lagging in vaccinations, the Delta variant could pose serious risk since experts believe the Delta variant is significantly more transmissible than its predecessors, Gottlieb said.
Read more here: CNN – A dangerous Covid-19 variant on the rise could cause outbreaks in US states with lower vaccination rates, expert says
Many Indian states eased coronavirus restrictions today including the capital Delhi, where authorities allowed all shops and malls to open, as the number of new infections dropped to the lowest in more than two months.
Infections peaked in India in May with about 400,000 new cases a day but that dropped to 70,421 new infections reported on Monday, the lowest daily increase since 31 March.
City chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi said that markets and restaurants would be carefully watched this week. “If we see coronavirus cases are going up, we will have to reimpose strict restrictions,” Kejriwal said in a televised address yesterday.
Neha Arora and Uday Sampath Kumar report from India for Reuters that in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, known for automobile manufacturing, some businesses were allowed to bring back 50% of employees and salons and liquor shops re-opened. Bus services remained suspended until June 21.
In Bengaluru, the capital of neighbouring Karnataka state and a major tech hub, traffic returned to the streets as authorities allowed the partial re-opening of businesses though strict night and weekend curfews remained in place.
The pressure to resume some economic activity has grown as millions depend on daily wages to pay for food and rent.
“India needs to reopen as the challenge of maintaining a fine balance between lives and livelihoods is very crucial,” said Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Germany could soon begin easing rules on mask-wearing as the country enjoys a sharp drop in Covid-19 infections, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
“With falling incidence rates, we could proceed in stages. The first stage would be to lift the mask requirement outdoors,” Spahn said in an interview with the Funke media group.
“In regions with very low numbers and a high vaccination rate, the requirement could gradually be dropped indoors,” he added.
AFP note that wearing a mask is compulsory in Germany in public indoor spaces, as well as on public transport, in shops, in schools and on certain busy streets.
Andrew Sparrow has started his UK Covid live blog for the day. I’ll be continuing with global coronavirus news here, he’ll have the political wrangling over England’s lockdown delay…
New DUP leader in Northern Ireland Edwin Poots may not have expected this to be in his in-tray, but this morning he has said that fellow DUP member Ian Paisley’s verbal attack on Northern Ireland’s health minister Robin Swann “should not have happened”. Swann is a member of the Ulster Unionist Party.
The DUP leader told BBC Radio Ulster he had spoken with the MP following his appearance on stage with Covid-sceptic singer Van Morrison last week, chanting “Robin Swann is very dangerous”.
Paisley later released a statement in which he said he does not believe Swann is dangerous.
Mr Poots said: “I spoke to Ian immediately after that. Ian agreed that shouldn’t have happened. Ian agreed with me that he would apologise to Robin Swann and he has subsequently apologised to Robin Swann.”
He told the programme that apology had happened in person.
“Ian got himself into an awkward situation. Van Morrison pulled him on to the stage. His reaction was wrong, he accepts his reaction was wrong. He has apologised for his wrongdoing. I trust that will be the end of the matter.”
Van Morrison recently released a collection of anti-lockdown protest songs.
Also in Russia, authorities in Saint Petersburg, which is hosting a series of Euro 2020 matches, said on Monday they were tightening anti-coronavirus restrictions in an effort to curb a new spike in infections.
From Thursday food courts and children’s play areas in shopping malls in Russia’s second city will be closed, and no food will be sold at Euro 2020 fan zones, authorities said in a statement early Monday.
Cinemas will be operating at 50% capacity, down from 75%, and restaurants will be closed between 2.00am and 6.00am.
“Guests at all public events including those held in the open air are obliged to use masks,” city authorities said.
Finland, Russia, Sweden, Belgium and Poland are all due to feature in matches in the city in the coming days.
Russia reported 13,721 new coronavirus cases, including 6,590 in the capital. Reuters note the number of daily infections rose sharply last week and Moscow declared a four-day public holiday to reduce the spread of the virus.
By the way, Downing Street has now confirmed officially that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be joined by England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance for the press conference at 6pm, so it’s definitely the first XI.
Former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, Professor Sir Mark Walport, has said the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the UK is rising, but not with the intensity seen in previous waves of the virus.
“Sadly we are in the grip of the early stages of a third wave of the virus and it is this Delta variant, the so-called Indian variant, which has a very significant transmission advantage over the previous Alpha variant, the so-called Kent variant - it’s about 60% more transmissible,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We’ve got 7,000 cases on average per day at the moment, and a doubling time which is somewhere around a week. More than 90% of the new infections in the UK are of this variant, and it is rising in most parts of the country, though not all.
“The good news is we would be in real trouble if not for the enormous success of the vaccination programme and so we have got 75% of all adults have had the first dose and 50% who’ve had a second dose.”
PA report he added: “This variant shows some partial escape, particularly from the first dose - so first dose of vaccine is about 30% effective compared to 50% with the previous variant. We are starting to see hospital numbers rise, though fortunately with nothing like the intensity we saw previously.”
Boris Johnson expected to make lockdown delay announcement at 6pm
It looks like it is 6pm tonight in the UK for the announcement from Prime Minister Boris Johson.
NEW: Downing Street press conference confirmed for 6pm today.
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) June 14, 2021
We're expecting the announcement about the June 21st deadline - all suggestions at this stage are that it will be delayed.
The outsourcing company Serco has upgraded its profit forecast thanks to continuing strong revenues from its lucrative contract to run parts of the UK government’s Covid-19 test-and-trace service.
The company on Monday said its underlying trading profit for 2021 would be £15m higher than previously thought, at about £200m. Shares rose 5% in early trading, making Serco the top riser on the FTSE 250.
Serco runs large parts of the largely privatised service, which is labelled as NHS test and trace. It runs a quarter of the testing sites and half the “tier 3” contact tracers, who are mainly tasked with phoning the contacts of people who have tested positive.
Read more of Jasper Jolly’s report here: Serco upgrades profit forecast as Covid test-and-trace work soars
Former head of Myanmar’s immunisation programme arrested – reports
Reuters have this today, that the former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 immunisation programme has been arrested and faces charges of high treason for colluding with opponents of the military authorities, state media reported.
Myanmar’s healthcare system and coronavirus prevention measures have collapsed since the army seized power on 1 February. The 373 new cases reported on Sunday was the highest since 3 February, just before testing collapsed in the wake of the coup.
On Sunday, reported cases surged to their highest since shortly after the coup. Doctors and other medical workers have been at the forefront of a Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), leading strikes that have paralysed official and private business. Dozens have been arrested and hundreds more are wanted.
The Global New Light of Myanmar said Htar Htar Lin had been arrested on 10 June and she was also accused of working with an underground National Unity Government (NUG).
“According to her confession, she not only joined the CDM and formed the CDM Core Group together with other CDM doctors and staff but also colluded with terrorist NUG,” it said. The paper said she and 11 other doctors would face charges that included high treason, incitement and colluding with an illegal organisation.
Reuters says it was unable to reach her or any lawyer representing her for comment.
The arrest of Htar Htar Lin and other doctors was condemned by US-based Physicians for Human Rights.
“Dr. Htar Htar Lin*s arbitrary arrest is yet another sign that the military junta will stop at nothing in its war against Myanmar’s health workers,” said Jennifer Leigh, an epidemiologist serving as the group’s Myanmar Researcher.
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For those having to scratch things out of their diary, a four-week delay in England to lifting lockdown measures pushes it back from 21 June to 19 July.
The main impacts will be:
- Pubs and hospitality remain restricted to table service and with social distancing measures in place.
- People should still work from home, if they can.
- Theatres and entertainment venues will have their capacity held at 50%.
- Nightclubs have to remain closed.
The suggestion, however, is that there will be some change to the 30-person cap on attendees at weddings. Minister Edward Argar has said on Sky News this morning that “I know that weddings and people in that situation will be very much in the prime minister’s mind at the moment and it’s one of the things he’s been looking at carefully.
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Thailand's vaccination drive suffers disruption over supplies
Thailand’s recently launched coronavirus vaccination campaign was hit by confusion after at least 20 hospitals in Bangkok postponed Covid-19 inoculation appointments set for this week, citing delays in vaccine deliveries.
The hospital announcements were made on their Facebook pages, while Bangkok’s vaccine booking app also sent messages saying appointments after Tuesday would be delayed, as officials sought to reassure the public over vaccine supplies.
“There may have been confusion because private hospitals did not check with the Bangkok administration,” health minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters including those from Reuters, adding that more doses were being delivered to Bangkok. “We are not slowing down vaccinations, but there should be a calculation of the doses received,” Anutin said.
In a separate briefing, Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said there had been some “technical errors” in delivery of vaccines and the city had notified those who registered between 15-21 June. “We will vaccinate as quickly as possible once we receive the vaccines,” said Aswin.
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Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, has been pressing the scientific rationale for a delay on LBC this morning. PA Media reports that she said that a delay to lockdown easing is “proportionate” to prevent further lockdowns.
She told LBC: “We need to buy some more time to have more people receive a vaccine. We’ve just got about half of people with a second dose and we know that in the face of this Delta variant, that second dose is really important to provide the protection that is needed to avoid more people going into hospital.”
She added: “If we can provide more protection to the population through vaccines, then it means that we won’t have to take a step back again.
“If you look around the world, in Latin America, Chile, which has a great vaccination programme, they’ve had to lock down Santiago again with quite strict measures. And that’s really something we don’t want to have to do heading into, for example, later in the summer or the autumn.
“So this is why an additional four weeks, which is what we expect will be announced, I think is proportionate.”
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The Labour opposition spokesperson for housing in the UK, Lucy Powell MP, has left no doubt that she blames the prime minister’s delay in putting India on England’s “red” international travel list for the predicament that Boris Johnson now finds himself in. She told Sky News:
Undoubtedly we were too late to put India on the “red list”, and that certainly had everything to do with the fact that the prime minister was supposed to be going out there himself. So there was a real political reluctance within government to do that. So I think that the four-week delay on India being on the list has undoubtedly seeded the Delta variant much more widely here in the UK than it than it might otherwise have done.
Shadow secretary of state for housing, Lucy Powell tells #KayBurley the PM was "undoubtedly" too late in adding India to the travel red list, resulting in the Delta variant "seeded much more widely here in the UK than it might otherwise have done"
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 14, 2021
More: https://t.co/W1rdwPiCfP pic.twitter.com/pkQ1o8PWJh
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Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK and former Brexit party MEP, is taking it all well.
SELFISH govt scientists, led by their very own Communist, prof @SusanMichie of BBC R4 fame, have convinced PM to cancel Freedom Day = more cancer deaths, more pain in non covid patients as NHS wait lists explode, more grief for less well off, more job losses, more bust firms
— Richard Tice (@TiceRichard) June 14, 2021
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Women’s average working hours in the UK have taken a far smaller hit during the pandemic than men’s, according to the Resolution Foundation.
Defying predictions of a “shecession” at the start of the pandemic, the thinktank’s quarterly labour market report found that women were not as hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic as initially thought.
Early evidence suggested that women – many of whom work in badly affected, low-paying sectors such as retail – were significantly more likely than men to lose their jobs. However, while the situation for working mothers has been difficult, a different picture has emerged for women as a whole over the past year.
The employment rate among men has fallen by 2.4% since the start of the crisis, driven by a big drop in self-employment. This is a much sharper drop than the 0.8% decline for women. Full-time female employment has actually increased over the course of the crisis.
And while working hours have fallen overall during the pandemic, the average woman without children was working more than her pre-crisis hours by the start of 2021, with an average increase of 5% since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Overall, the fall in women’s total hours worked has been around a third smaller than the decline in men’s hours. The thinktank said this was partly because of women’s dominance in the public sector, including education and health, where they account for 70% of the workforce, and where employment has been relatively steady.
Read more of Julia Kollewe’s report here: Women working more hours in Covid crisis than first thought, study finds
Here’s a couple of clips of minister Edward Argar on Sky News. He said that the government was not aiming for a so-called “zero Covid” approach – but wanted to delay to get more vaccine shots in arms. He also hinted that the prime minister’s address tonight will include details of whether furlough and support schemes are to be extended.
"We do have to live with this disease."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 14, 2021
Minister for Health Edward Argar tells #KayBurley "you cannot got for a zero COVID approach, you have to live with it" and the public will "see more ease" once "we've got those second doses in peoples' arms."https://t.co/W1rdwPiCfP pic.twitter.com/UFwxpAYh6Y
Edward Argar tells #KayBurley while he could not speculate on whether Boris Johnson will extend furlough, the PM is "very mindful of the need for businesses and others to get the support they need if they continue to be locked down or unable to reopen".https://t.co/W1rdwPiCfP pic.twitter.com/xW5FEy9OqD
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 14, 2021
A series of coronavirus outbreaks in Thai factories is raising concerns that the export sector could be hit hard, threatening to further undermine an economy as it struggles to recover from the pandemic’s crippling blow to the crucial tourism industry.
The virus has swept through over 130 factories, including those supplying international brands, with more than 7,100 cases across 11 provinces, making manufacturing one of the top sources of infections along with prisons and construction camps.
The affected plants are just a fraction of about 63,000 factories in Thailand that employ 3.4 million, government data shows, but officials worry about the impact on exports that have kept the struggling economy moving as income from tourism has collapsed.
Electronics, rubber gloves, and food are among the export sectors hit by infections, Federation of Thai Industries vice chairman Kriengkrai Thiennukul told Reuters, but he said it was too early to assess the overall impact.
“If it continues the damage will increase so factories have to be fully vaccinated,” he said. Already, some of the manufacturers affected by the outbreak have had to curtail production.
The government has been trying to contain the outbreak with a “bubble and seal” policy, which takes effect when 10% of factory workers are infected. The confirmed cases are then sent for treatment while the remainder are kept at the factory for 28 days.
Workers at factories and in construction camps who live on site – many of them low-wage migrant workers – have been unable to leave their workplace, even if they are not infected. The policy differs from other workplaces affected by the coronavirus.
“It’s not appropriate,” said Suthasinee Kaewleklai, Migrant Workers Rights Network coordinator in Thailand, adding that authorities should be doing more tests.
Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat report for Reuters that Thailand has recorded a total of 199,264 Covid-19 infections and 1,466 deaths so far, with over 80% of the new cases and 90% of the fatalities reported after April. As of now, only 1.6 million people out of a population of over 66 million have been fully vaccinated.
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Long-serving contrarian Conservative MP Peter Bone has had his tuppence on the radio this morning. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme a delay to the lifting of restrictions should not happen “without really good reason” and that he “can’t see the evidence why we should be postponing our freedom”.
Asked if he would vote against a delay if put to a vote in parliament, PA Media reports he said: “What I would do is listen to what the prime minister says, listen to the arguments, and if I’m not convinced that these restrictions are necessary then I would of course vote against it and I hope every member of the House of Commons will listen to the argument and make their minds up.
“There has to be a vote in the House of Commons. This can’t be decided by a few ministers sitting behind closed doors. It has to be an open and transparent decision.”
He said there should only be restrictions “if there is a very clear danger to society”.
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By the way, if you haven’t wandered past a newsagents yet, here are the overnight front pages that were breaking that behind-the-scenes briefing that today Boris Johnson will announce a four-week delay to unlocking.
The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 13, 2021
'One last heave to freedom, PM to urge'#TomorrowsPapersToday
Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/jKGWKsRGpK
Monday's Times: Easing of lockdown delayed by four weeks #TomorrowsPapersToday #TheTimes #Times pic.twitter.com/VvuzModzWp
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) June 13, 2021
MIRROR: Wait for it #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/KlsY3bZu5L
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 13, 2021
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PA Media has got some quotes here from Rachael Robathan, who is Westminster City Council leader in London. She has been addressing the fears of the theatre and entertainment sector, which had been gearing up for a 21 June reopening in England that now looks like it isn’t coming. She said:
We are all braced for a delay today in the lifting of social distancing rules – while that will be extremely disappointing and devastating for some sectors, the government’s priority has got to be to protect people’s health.
But central London cannot afford any slippage in the fight to revive our economy. Footfall numbers are still down, office workers are staying away in significant numbers and central areas of the city are hurting.
So any further delay should come with a support package to help our businesses survive. These are desperate times for theatre owners and the creative industries, and some have made it clear to me their businesses are just not viable unless social distancing is lifted soon.
This is particularly harsh when you see how much theatres have done to make their premises Covid-secure for audiences and the cast. The creative industries are a major employer, and a multimillion earner for the capital with visitors to the West End spending money in our shops, restaurants and hotels.
Our cultural institutions need clarity and certainty on the rules around social distancing so they can make their productions pay.
As a reminder – Andrew Lloyd-Webber has said he’s reopening his London theatres come what may, and dared the government to arrest him over it.
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Probably the most useful thing that Edward Argar, UK health and social care minister, has said on Sky News is that in his announcement tonight, British prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to address whether the four-week delay we are expecting in unlocking might be extended further, and what the mechanism and timings for that would be, to try and give greater clarity to businesses.
Argar’s main argument has been that a four-week delay buys the UK government more time to vaccinate people, with the Delta variant being more transmissible. Notably he said there were about 2 million over-50s who hadn’t had a second dose yet. He suggested that a four-week delay would give time to address that, give second jabs to the over-40s, and allow some time for immunity to kick in. He assured presenter Kay Burley that “the supplies are there”.
Incidentally, the latest numbers on the government’s own coronavirus dashboard are that cases are up nearly 50% week-on-week, but hospitalisations are only up 15% week-on-week.
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Serco and G4S order NHS test-and-trace suppliers to clean up act on tax
Restriction delays aren’t the only Covid related news in the UK this morning though, as Jasper Jolly reports:
The outsourcing companies Serco and G4S have ordered the recruitment agencies that they rely on to provide workers for the NHS test-and-trace system to clean up their supply chains, after a Guardian investigation prompted concerns over tax dodging.
Serco confirmed it had passed information on some of its suppliers to HM Revenue and Customs, after evidence emerged that agency staff were being paid via controversial “mini-umbrella companies” (MUCs), which are often used to fraudulently dodge national insurance contributions.
The UK government relies on a complicated network of private companies to carry out its pandemic response work, although the system is labelled as NHS test and trace. The Guardian found evidence of MUCs across the system, from mobile testing units to contact tracing call centres, to laboratories testing samples.
Experts believe MUCs are only one aspect of a broader problem with umbrella companies, which employ and handle payment for agency workers. The annual costs of unscrupulous umbrella companies to workers and the exchequer may be as high as £4.5bn through tax fraud and other issues such as withheld holiday pay.
The government last week pledged to regulate all umbrella companies. They will fall under the remit of a new single labour enforcement body that will combine responsibilities currently spread between HM Revenue and Customs, the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority, and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.
Other test and trace contractors have also moved employees out of payroll companies following enquiries from media.
Read more of Jasper Jolly’s report here: Serco and G4S order NHS test-and-trace suppliers to clean up act on tax
I should have made you a little bingo card because the very first thing that UK health and social care minister Edward Argar has just said on Sky News is “I’m not going to speculate about what the prime minister might announce later today.”
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over the blog. I suspect that the next couple of hours of the UK media round are going to be quite repetitive.
People will be asked about the suggestion that the UK government is about to delay unlocking restrictions.
Ministers will say they can’t pre-empt any official announcements.
Representatives of businesses will tell us that the uncertainty is destroying them and they need clarity.
Opposition spokespeople will question why the government dithered over adding India to the “red list” just as Boris Johnson was hoping to fly there on a post-Brexit trade bonanza.
Then, later in the day, the prime minister will announce exactly what had been briefed to friendly media sources over the weekend, minus any concessions that Conservative backbench MPs have managed to wrangle out of him.
US death toll nears 600,000
Coronavirus is on the verge of having killed a devastating 600,000 people in the US, with the case total standing at 599,769, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The US toll is the highest in the world.
While new cases of Covid-19 are declining across most of the country, even in some states with vaccine-hesitant populations., almost all states where cases are rising have lower-than-average vaccination rates.
Experts warned on Sunday that relief from the coronavirus pandemic could be fleeting in regions where few people get inoculated.
Case totals nationally have declined in a fortnight from a seven-day average of nearly 21,000 on May 29 to 14,315 on Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
For weeks, states and cities have been ending virus restrictions and mask mandates, even indoors.
Experts said some states were experiencing increased immunity because there were high rates of natural spread of the disease:
• This post was amended on 14 June 2021 to clarify that the decline in national cases from nearly 21,000 to 14,315 occurred over a fortnight, not a week as stated in an earlier version.
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India reports lowest cases since March
India on Monday reported 70,421 new Covid infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest since 31 March, data from the health ministry showed.
The country’s total case load stands at 29.51 million, while total fatalities are at 374,305, the data showed. India added 3,921 deaths overnight.
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BBC reports senior England ministers have signed off on decision to delay restriction lifting
Boris Johnson is facing a furious backlash from Tory MPs as he prepares to put the final lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England on hold.
PA Media reports the prime minister is expected to announce the ending of social-distancing rules – which had been slated for 21 June – will be delayed for four weeks to 19 July, with the BBC reporting early on Monday the decision had been signed off by senior ministers.
The move follows warnings from scientists that the rapid spread of the Delta variant first identified in India risks a “substantial” third wave if it is allowed to spread unchecked.
Johnson is expected to appeal to the public to show patience, with one last push to ensure that when controls do finally end it is “irreversible”.
However, it comes as a huge setback to many businesses – particularly in the battered hospitality sector – which had pinned their hopes on a full summer reopening to recoup some of the losses of the past year.
There was deep frustration among lockdown sceptics on the Conservative benches who said there was no reason not to end the restrictions as those most at risk of death or serious illness are now fully vaccinated.
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Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
India on Monday reported 70,421 new Covid infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest since March 31, data from the health ministry showed. The country’s total case load now stands at 29.51 million, while total fatalities are at 374,305, the data showed. India added 3,921 deaths overnight.
Boris Johnson is facing a furious backlash from Tory MPs as he prepares to put the final lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England on hold. The Prime Minister is expected to announce the ending of social-distancing rules – which had been slated for 21 June – will be delayed for four weeks to July 19, with the BBC reporting early on Monday the decision had been signed off by senior ministers.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- The UK reported eight new deaths and a further 7,490 positive cases, according to official data. Sundays figures are an increase of 2,149 from last weeks figure of 5,341. Becoming the second week in a row, the country has recorded over 2000 new cases from an increase on 30 May - 6 June, which showed an increase of 2,101.
- G7 leaders renewed calls into an investigation of the origin of the pandemic amid questions over whether it leaked from a Chinese laboratory.
- Lebanon administered more than 40,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in a weekend drive to contain the pandemic.
- British prime minister Boris Johnson rejected suggestions by a former prime minister that there may be an ‘unforgivable moral failure’ in the supply of vaccine doses to cover the needs of poorer nations.
- Colombian president Ivan Duque received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday, as he urged people to continue keeping themselves safe against Covid-19 amid a record number of daily deaths.
- Peru passed two million positive cases, with 2,001,059 people now contracting the virus and 188,443 deaths.
- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pledged no return to Covid restrictions despite growing infections over the past month.
